Daemons, Daemons, and More Daemons!

This is really exciting news, everyone. Daemons are coming out with a pile of new plastic and Finecast kits AND they're being released next week (conveniently, right after I get paid). I cannot contain my joy, and this is why:

Take. My. Money.

Absolutely amazing- but I wonder, how do you paint it?

This Exalted Chariot blows my mind. Yeah, it's $60, but I'm still going to be first in line to buy it. It appears to be on the same base as the Soul Grinder, which means it really is as huge as it looks. It seems the kit is basically two of the new chariot kits combined (which are $30 each, so that $60 becomes more reasonable).

4 Hull points, counts as open topped, and is just generally awesome. How do I not buy one?

The regular chariot itself is really nice, too, although less impressive in terms of scale. I'm enjoying the aesthetic they're using. I'm also a huge fan of the whips. I wish those had been around when I made my mounted Slaanesh Herald. It's perfectly Slaaneshy- to the point that I'd be tempted swap it out if I suddenly turn crazy enough to mess with a fully painted model.

6th Edition Rapid Fire Tournament

Today was quite a day! Casey and I went down to Ye Olde Fredericksburg for a tournament at the Game Vault. It was a very informal thing to help everyone get acquainted with the new rules. Just the sort of thing you need for a new edition.

The format was great- we were randomly paired up and left to play each game as long as we needed. Then we were paired up with the next person who was waiting for a game. I managed to get in 4, but we showed up a little late (traffic added an hour to our travel time) so otherwise I probably could have went for 5.

It was 1,000 points, so I used my Daemons and played:

HQ: Keeper of Secrets
Elites: 3 Fiends, 3 Flamers
Troops: 2 units of 10 Daemonettes
Fast Attack: 10 Flesh Hounds, 8 Seekers

Casey- Tyranids
   Since we showed up late, we got paired against each other. We don't play each other often, so it was nice, even though he beat the snot out of me. There's really nothing I can do against all his Warriors' shooting, particularly since I opted not to take a Daemon Prince.

Russ- Daemons
   I don't usually do well in Daemon on Daemon pairings, since it's likely impossible to have a less shooty Daemon army than what I tend to run. This was a good game and I stuck around longer than I thought, despite the fliers he had. I had nothing that could take care of the flying monstrous creatures, which is something I'll have to be mindful of in the future. I also should add one to my list if I run Daemons in the future.

Joe- Orks
   This is only the second time I've played against Orks. I wasn't expecting there to be so many in just a 1,000 point game, but they definitely needed those numbers considering their low BS. It's unusual being the one outnumbered, though. This was probably the most informative of the games, because I learned a lot about an army I'm not familiar with in addition to reinforcing the 6th rules.

Dan- Daemons
   In no other game was I more sorry I didn't take the Daemon Prince. Also, I cannot believe how much better Soul Grinders got in 6th.Yikes. This game was tough but fun. My Seekers suffered a mishap and died, which always hurts but I didn't have much of a chance when only two units had a chance of wounding the three Grinders. It was the most decisive of my losses.


This event was great. Having a room full of people to consult on new rules was fantastic. And since no one knew what they were doing 100%, the keep-your-own pace was perfect. Playing four games also made me severely aware of the new holes in this army- I really have to have more shooting. I also need, without exception, to include a Tzeenchy Daemon Prince in all lists. Bolt or stay home.

After this, I feel much more confident in 6th, even though I'm still feeling a little adverse to the change. With some of the bigger changes locked in (although I still keep forgetting the change to Fleet), I can now work on some of the smaller ones. Another ten games or so, and I should be right as rain (or right enough at least).

Casey won the event, having won all of his games. He keeps saying his 'Nids are terrible but I still don't see it. I actually won the "door prize" which I think was their nice way of saying "last place" (I didn't do well, haha) but I had 4 really solid, fun, and informative games. My prize went towards getting my first HQ for my Space Wolves- a Logan Grimnar. I now have everything I need to start those puppies now, so I'd better finished my Dwarfs or they'll start collecting dust.

Prep for NOVA Open

The next big tournament coming up is the NOVA Open and I happen to live a stone's throw from where it's being held. This makes NOVA the cheapest tournament on the scene for me- since I don't have to shell out a lot of money for accommodations or travel expenses. 

Despite NOVA's decision to go ahead with 6th edition (a choice I fully support), I am not going to be playing 40k there this year. It's definitely Fantasy for me. I have Big Plans for my Space Wolves, and there's no way I'd be able to get them done in time. And while my Daemons are finished, I'm in no hurry to play with them right now.

I've been trying to do at least an hour of painting every day, so I've been making good progress on the Dwarfs. The Slayers are 100% finished and everyone else is at least halfway painted. The bases are done and ready to go. I have just a few lords and heroes to finish up, including my Dragon Slayer and Rune Lord.

Unfortunately, I realized that the pirate dwarfs I was counting on won't be released until after NOVA is over. It didn't occurred to me to consider the release date against the tournament, so now I have to come up with another plan for them. I don't know of anyone that currently makes pirate dwarfs I could get right now that would fit in with the GW Long Drongs I already have.

Somehow, I always manage to be finishing models up at the last minute and each time I swear it won't happen again. If I try to find new models, it will, so I may end up just mish-mashing the warriors I have together and calling it a day. If all goes well, they'll be finished in the next two weeks, and I'll be able to get a bunch of games in.

Wargaming Room

Hubs and I did some reorganizing of our hobby room (formerly known as my sewing studio) and made the room for this great beauty:

Yeah, that's my sewing machine in the background.

We have a home gaming table. :-)

It is suitably sized for Warhammer or whatever wargame strikes our fancy (such as Mordheim, pictured). I'm tremendously excited about this. It means, above all, that Hubs and I will actually be able to play games together for a change. Crazy, isn't it? With his work schedule and our FLGS being out of the way, we've had a hard time scheduling some. Problem eliminated.

The really great part, though, is now we can have people over and host games. It's a more convenient meeting place than the FLGS for quite a few of our friends, as well. It'll be nice to host our occasional Mordheim campaigns at home as well.

It also means we'll be able to get a whole lot of practice in before the NOVA Open. Good thing, too, I'm going to need it! I want to get in as many games as possible between now and then, so I feel more comfortable with the rules.

Mordheim Campaign and Dwarf Warband

As if I don't have enough new games on my plate, I was recently roped into Mordheim. Not really having the time or desire to paint up a whole new set of figures for my warband, I decided to play the Dwarf Treasure Hunters. I pulled out a few choice (and mostly painted) dudes from my Fantasy army and I was ready to rock and roll.

My merry warband!

Not everyone is totally painted, but that's a WIP army for you. I'm plugging away at them. Hubs painted up a whole mess of terrain for the game this week and we all got together at the local game store and played for a few hours. We played three games each, one game against everyone.

It started out so well, just heading on it, no idea what I was doing (we learned as we went along). It went a little downhill after the initial battle. Eventually, I lost one of my clansmen and my Noble took a serious wound- a leg wound so severe that he gets a -1 modifier to his movement. That means he's movement 2 now. He wasn't slow enough before, apparently.

So... much... terrain...

This last combat didn't end so well. There were too many ghouls and zombies (and they overran me). Apparently zombies are too much for my Dwarfs. Who'd have thought?

I found a well while exploring, and thankfully my Engineer didn't fall into it and die. That would have been sad. I have much more of a stake in them staying alive when they cost me a lot of gold to replace. I love getting a bonus wyrdstone just because Dwarfs are awesome miners.

We were all learning/relearning the game, so it was very casual and fun. I'm looking forward to buying some upgrades for my army (like giving my Engineer a real gun and replacing that dead Clansmen). The RPG campaign style is really fun, I am looking forward to continuing to gain experience with these guys.

Emerald Stone Bases

There were a lot of these suckers to make, somewhere in the vicinity of 150, plus a few larger ones for the unit fillers and such. I had a hard time getting into a grove working on them, but my friend Bart hosted a painting day and bbq yesterday for the 4th and I pushed through the rest of them.

The base itself is a little bit of white mixed with Goblin Green sponged on top of a layer of Snot Green/Catachan Green mix. Not that these colors mean much anymore, but there you go. Thankfully I bought an extra pot of each before they switched to the new line of paints.

I really happy with how they look all lined up.

They look like they're sitting on stones, but they're actually shells I found at my local craft store. The leafy bits are craft moss. After I primed, painted, and sponged the bases, I just glued down the shells on top of the moss. Then I trimmed down the excess moss, since some of them were a little wild.

I did 30 of them ages ago when I finished my Slayers, but I forgot to stick the metal bases to the bottom. Rather than pull them off and remake them, I primed the metal, added it to the bottom, and then touched up the paint. A hassle and not the best way to go about it, but completely my own fault for not planning ahead better.

Now I just need to finish painting up the rest of this army so I can stick them on the bases. Longbeards are mostly finished, I just have to pick out the rest of the details on them.